The tripos.
The tripos, although it did not take shape till the middle of the same century derives its name from a custom of the xvith. On the day when the bachelor obtained his public recognition he had as his opponent in discussion one of the older bachelors who posed as the champion of the university. He sat upon a three-legged stool “before Mr. Proctor’s seat” and
disputed with the senior questionist. This stool or tripod was eventually to provide a name for the great written examination of succeeding centuries—the tripos. The champion bachelor was addressed as “Mr. Tripos,” and his humorous orations were called “tripos speeches.” Tripos verses were next written, and on the back of these the moderators, in the middle of the xviii century, began printing the honours list:[266] from this tripos list of names the transition was easy to tripos as the name of the examination itself—the tripos examination. These disputations degenerated in Restoration times to buffoonery, but the principle of examination made steady progress,[267] and there were probably no tripos speeches after the Senate House was built. In the xvi and xvii centuries, however, great personages had acts and disputations performed for their entertainment; and the tastes of Elizabeth and her Scotch successor were consulted when “a physic act” was kept before the former, while “a philosophy act” was reserved for James.
There were declamations, which did not escape Byron’s ridicule, in the xix century, but the last general public “act” was kept in 1839. The viva voce examination in the “Little go” which was only discontinued 14 years ago, and the viva voce and the “act” for the medical degree[268] are the only survivals to our day of that oral examination by which the scholar in the public acts constantly responded to the living voice of the magister. For the first time in their long history silence settled down upon the schools, and the eye replaced the ear as the channel of knowledge.[269]
Subjects of study. Trivium and Quadrivium.